Yankees' Triple-A affiliate no longer called the Yankees_BINARY_945172

Thursday

Nov 15, 2012 at 9:51 AM

After spending all of last season as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the club renamed itself the RailRiders on Wednesday in a nod to the region's railroading history.

Mike McDermott

DICKSON CITY, Pa. (AP) -- The top minor league affiliate of the New York Yankees is looking to northeastern Pennsylvania's history for its new identity.

After spending all of last season as the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, the club renamed itself the RailRiders on Wednesday in a nod to the region's railroading history.

The new logo features a porcupine mascot in navy and gold with maroon lettering for the team name.

The porcupine is native to the area and had been among the other candidates for the team name.

The club spent all of last season without a home stadium amid a $43 million renovation project at PNC Field, just outside Scranton. The team played 37 "home" games in Rochester, N.Y.

The news means that the Pawtucket Red Sox are just one of four Triple-A affiliates that wear the names of their major-league partners on their uniforms. The others are the Gwinnett Braves, the Iowa Cubs and the Tucson Padres.